The present invention relates to a beam delivery system for use with lasers, and particularly for use with discharge pumped molecular fluorine lasers emitting around 157 nm. 2. Discussion of the Related Art
Molecular fluorine (F2) lasers operating at a wavelength of approximately 157 nm are a likely choice for deep UV/ vacuum UV microlithography with resolution below 0.1 micrometer. Laser radiation at this wavelength is also very useful for micromachining applications involving materials normally transparent at commonly available laser wavelengths.
Efficient extracavity transport of a sub-200 nm laser beam to the target is complicated by strong absorption in the atmosphere. That is, the sub-200 nm laser beam of such a laser will propagate a certain distance along an extracavity beam path between the laser output coupler and a work piece where it is subject to absorptive losses due to any photoabsorbing species such as water, oxygen and hydrocarbons located along the beam path. For example, an extinction length (1/e) for 157 nm radiation emitted by the F2-laser is less than a millimeter in ambient air.
High intracavity losses also occur for lasers operating at wavelengths below 200 nm, again due particularly to characteristic absorption by oxygen and water, but also due to scattering in gases and all optical elements. As with the absorption, the short wavelength (less than 200 nm) is responsible for high scattering losses due to the wavelength dependence of the photon scattering cross section.
These complications from absorption and scattering are much less of a problem for conventional lithography systems employing 248 nm light, such as is emitted by the KrF-excimer laser. Species such as oxygen and water in the cavity and atmosphere which absorb strongly below 200 nm, and specifically very strongly around 157 nm for the F2 laser, exhibit negligible absorption at 248 nm. The extinction length in ambient air for 248 nm light is substantially more than ten meters. Also, photon scattering in gases and optical elements is reduced at 248 nm compared with that occurring at shorter wavelengths. In addition, output beam characteristics are more sensitive to temperature-induced variations effecting the production of smaller structures lithographically at short wavelengths such as 157 nm, than those for longer wavelength lithography at 248 nm. Clearly, KrF excimer lasers do not have the same level of problems since the 248 nm light scatters less and experiences less absorption.
One possible solution for dealing with the absorption problems of the 157 nm emission of the F2 laser is sealing the beam path with a housing or enclosure and purging the beam path with an inert gas. However, high flow rates are typically used in this technique in order to minimize the down time needed to remove absorbing species from the beam enclosure. That is, starting from a state where the enclosure is filled with ambient air, an unacceptably long purge time and high flow rate would be required to bring the partial pressure of absorbing species down to a reasonable level. It may also be necessary to perform this purging technique with a very clean inert gas, e.g., containing less than 1 ppm of absorbing species such as water and oxygen. Commercial ultra high purity (UHP) grade gases may be obtained to satisfy these purity requirements at increased cost. Overall, this purging approach is expensive and inconvenient.
Another solution would be evacuating the beam path. In this case, a relatively low pressure vacuum would be needed resulting in an expensive pumping system. For example, ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) pumping equipment and techniques may be necessary for achieving a pressure below 100 millitorr. Such equipment and techniques combine a tight enclosure with high pumping capacity. Unsatisfactorily long initial pumping times would still be required. In this evacuation approach, transmission along the optical beam path enclosure would be determined by the absorption of radiation by xe2x80x9cresidualxe2x80x9d gases, mainly oxygen, water vapor and hydrocarbons which remain despite the evacuation, e.g., particularly attached to the interior walls of the enclosure.
FIG. 1 shows an experimentally measured dependence of the transmission of a 0.5 meter optical path on the residual air pressure. A theoretical fit is also shown in FIG. 1 and is based on the assumption that the main absorbing species is water vapor having an absorption cross-section of approximately 3xc3x9710xe2x88x9218 cm2. This assumption is believed to be justified because water has a tendency to be adsorbed at the walls of vacuum systems and thus, to dominate the residual pressure in such systems.
As can be seen, at a residual pressure of 50 milliTorr, the optical losses amount to about 1% per each 0.5 meter of the optical path. At around 100 milliTorr, the optical losses amount to about 2% per each 0.5 meter. At 150 milliTorr and 200 milliTorr, respectively, the losses amount to 3% and 4.5%. In a system such as a microlithographic stepper, the optical beam path can be as large as several meters which would lead to an unsatisfactorily high total amount of losses at that loss rate. For example, an average five meter beam path, even at a transmittance between 99% and 95.5%, as shown for 50-200 milliTorr residual pressures in FIG. 1, corresponds to between a 10% and 37% loss.
Another consideration is the energy stability. It is desired to maintain laser energy dose variations, and/or energy moving average variations, to less than, e.g., 0.5%. If residual oxygen or water vapor partial pressures fluctuate by 0.5% to 1.0%, e.g., then fluctuations in the absorption of the beam by these species could cause the energy dose stability to fall below desired or even tolerable levels. It is recognized in the present invention that a first step of lowering the partial pressures of photoabsorbing species along the laser beam path would serve to lower the % absorption fluctuation and increase the energy dose stability, even if the % concentrations of these species fluctuate at the same % value. It is desired, then, to have a technique for preparing the beam path of a VUV laser such that absorption and absorption fluctuations of the beam along the beam path are low enough to meet energy dose stability criteria, e.g., of  less than 0.5%.
It is clear from the above measurement and theoretical fit for the beam path evacuation technique that one needs to lower the residual pressure of the absorbing species substantially below 100 milliTorr to achieve acceptable optical losses, e.g. less than around 1% per meter of optical path length, and acceptable optical loss fluctuations. Such low pressures can only be obtained using complex and expensive vacuum equipment and/or operating the vacuum equipment for an unacceptably long time. All together, this leads to a substantial and undesirable downtime for pumping and requires complex and expensive equipment. An approach is needed for depleting the beam path of a laser operating below 200 nm, particularly an F2 laser, of photoabsorbing species without incurring excessive down times or costs.
It is recognized in the present invention that photoabsorbing species may tend to accumulate in greater concentrations along a beam path of a sub-200 nm laser beam than would otherwise accumulate along a similar length, e.g., of an enclosure otherwise substantially free of photoabsorbing and/or other contaminant species. This contamination generation has been observed experimentally to occur along the beam path from the VUV laser to an imaging system, workpiece, or other external application process equipment. It is desired that such photoabsorbing and/or other contaminant species be prevented from exiting the enclosure and contaminating another environment, such as a housing connected to the enclosure which may contain an imaging system and/or workpiece.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a laser system wherein a beam path of the laser beam exiting the laser is substantially depleted of species which photoabsorb strongly below 200 nm including such species as air, water, oxygen and hydrocarbons.
It is a further object to provide a system wherein contaminants generated along a beam path of the laser beam exiting the laser are flushed from the beam path and/or prevented from crossing from the beam path into an external enclosure, while the beam is allowed to propagate into the external enclosure.
In accordance with the above objects, a beam delivery system for connecting to a laser emitting a laser beam at less than 200 nm and for delivering the laser beam to an external housing leading ultimately to a workpiece is provided. The system includes an enclosure sealing at least a portion of the beam path exiting the laser from the outer atmosphere. the enclosure includes a plurality of ports for flowing an inert gas, of preferably 99.5% purity or more, within the enclosure to enable the laser beam to propagate along the beam path, such that the energy of the beam can traverse enclosure without substantial attenuation due to the presence of photoabsorbing species along the beam path. A window preferably seals the enclosure that is substantially transparent at the emission wavelength of less than 200 nm to allow the beam to exit the enclosure and enter the external housing, while preventing contaminants generated within the enclosure from exiting the enclosure and contaminating surfaces within the housing.
Propagation with significant transmittance of the 157 nm emission of a molecular fluorine (F2) laser along the beam path is specifically enabled in the present invention, as well as for ArF, Xe, Kr, Ar, and H2 lasers operating respectively at 193 nm, 172 nm, 145 nm, 125 nm and 121 nm. Absorption and absorption fluctuations are advantageously maintained at a low level within the enclosure for greater efficiency, energy stability and energy dose stability. The sub-200 nm beam is allowed to propagate along the beam path within the enclosure, and then to exit the enclosure, preferably into a second enclosure such as may include an optical imaging system of a photolithography system, leading ultimately to a workpiece, while contaminants generated within the enclosure are prevented from exiting the enclosure due to the presence of the window sealing the enclosure.